Mallory Park World Sprint Duathlon Championships Qualifier, 6 Mar 2022

This was my first race of the 2022 season and only my second ever duathlon - it sure did deliver! The weather was extremely cold, although I was thankful it was dry, and there was a strong wind that hit you down the back straight of the circuit.

I didn't have a very good first run which wasn't helped that I decided to stand right at the back on the start line and spent the first 500m picking my way through the crowd until I finally found my rhythm. By this point, I was trying to catch some of the competitors I wanted to race with.

On to T1....what a disaster! I totally forgot I was on a borrowed bike and started looking for my own bike and then when I couldn't find it panicked and thought someone had taken it (even though that would never happen as its always the worst on the line up).

Finally, out on the bike course and I really got going, this is the best race I have ever had on a bike. Head down and power on, I focussed on picking off one competitor at a time. On the 7th lap the wind felt like a brick wall and the repetition of going up the hill started to affect my legs but I knew I had to push through for the last two laps.

The last run was not bad and I felt reasonably good although by this point there was nobody in sight to try and close down. Overall, a great first race out, lots of areas to improve and I managed to take the third automatic qualification spot in my age group 😊

Alli Coleman